Case Management in a DUI Lab: Effect on Drugs Reported

An evaluation of an internal laboratory decision to implement a protocol for limiting drug testing based on ethanol concentration in laboratory analysis for driving under the influence (DUI) cases is presented. The described case management strategy is supported by known impairment of ethanol at relatively high concentrations, difficulty assigning a level of contributing impairment from drugs in the presence of high ethanol levels and the likelihood that the drug results may be suppressed at trial. Although the results of this study reinforce the assertion that such protocols lead to the under reporting of drugs in DUI cases, for the majority of cases, 95% in this study, the drug analysis results were not significant and did not warrant the time and resources needed for the additional blood drug testing. Furthermore, the study demonstrated that a high drug positivity rate does not necessarily mean that those drug results are legally or pharmacologically meaningful. Additional research should be conducted with quantitative drug results and casework impact of blood drug screen protocols as previous studies only report drug positivity rates and not whether the drug results would be meaningful to the case.